The polymath Bogdanov received training in medicine and psychiatry. His scientific interests ranged from the universal systems theory to the possibility of human rejuvenation through blood transfusion. He invented an original philosophy called tektology, now regarded as a forerunner of systems theory.

He was a key figure in the early history of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, joining it in 1896 but expelled in 1909 after leading the ultra-left, boycottist (or ultimatist) tendency. He maintained that the party could only work through illegal organizations (due to the suppression of political parties during this period).

After 1911, he drifted from political activism to writing on philosophy, culture, and economics. Served as an Army doctor in WWI. He did not rejoin the Party, but after the October Revolution, he founded, together with Lunacharsky, the organisation Proletkult, which attracted a membership of some 400,000 during 1917-21. After 1921, he left politics and turned increasingly to scientific-medical work while remaining a widely respected figure of Old Bolshevism. He was a member of the Socialist Academy, where he gave lectures, and in 1926 he founded the first Institute of Blood Transfusion. He died in 1928 while experimenting with blood transfusions. [2]

Ilmari Susiluoto, The Origins and Development of Systems Thinking in the Soviet Union: Political and Philosophical Controversies from Bogdanov and Bukharin to Present-Day Reevaluations, Helsinki: Suomalainen tiedeakatemia, 1982, 211 pp. (English)

John Biggart, Georgii Gloveli, Avraham Yassour, Bogdanov and His Work: A Guide to the Published and Unpublished Works of Alexander A. Bogdanov (Malinovsky) 1873-1928, Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998. Review, Review.

John Biggart, Peter Dudley, Francis King (eds.), Alexander Bogdanov and the Origins of Systems Thinking in Russia. The Proceedings of a Conference at the University of East Anglia, Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998, 362 pp. TOC, Review.

John Eric Marot, "Alexander Bogdanov, Vpered, and the Role of the Intellectual in the Workers' Movement", pp 241-264; John Biggart, "Alexander Bogdanov and the Theory of a 'New Class'", pp 265-282; Zenovia A. Sochor, "On Intellectuals and the New Class", pp 283-292; Andrzej S. Walicki, "Alexander Bogdanov and the Problem of the Socialist Intelligentsia", pp 293-304; Aileen M. Kelly, "Red Queen or White Knight? The Ambivalences of Bogdanov", pp 305-315.

Avraham Yassour, "Bogdanov-Malinovsky on Party and Revolution", Studies in Soviet Thought 27:3 (April 1984), pp 225-236. Abridged version of a paper delivered in Paris at the colloquium La Révolution de 1905 en Russie. [26]

Lynn Mally, "Intellectuals in the Proletkult: Problems of Authority and Expertise", in Party, State and Society in the Russian Civil War, eds. D.P.Koenker, W.G.Rosenberg, and R.G.Suny, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.

Ilmari Susiluoto, The Origins and Development of Systems Thinking in the Soviet Union: Political and Philosophical Controversies From Bogdanov to Present-day Re-evaluations, Helsinkii: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1982.

Simona Poustilnik, "Biological Ideas in Tektology", in Alexander Bogdanov and the Origins of Systems Thinking in Russia, eds. J. Biggart, P. Dudley and F. King, Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998. Presented at the international conference, Origins of Organization Theory in Russia and the Soviet Union, University of East Anglia (Norwich), 8-11 January 1995.